The Connection
by ChanceTheChase
Summary: Sometimes the connections we make are the ones that save us. When Harry's family is attacked, Ginny helps him through it. When they get back to Hogwarts, Harry discovers that the connections he has will help in his final showdown with Voldemort. H/G, R


**The Connection**

_By:  ChanceTheChase_

Disclaimer:  Obviously I don't own the Harry Potter characters or series, but I do own this plot line.  The title may change, but I'll make a note of that if it does.

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When Dumbledore had told him to stay at the Dursleys that summer between his 6th and 7th years at Hogwarts, he'd tried to protest, but to no avail.  So, with a chip on his shoulder, he went back to the Dursleys.  Like every day of his life before, they'd treated him horribly.  Screaming, yelling.  He was thankful for the "job" he'd gotten working for Mrs. Figg.  Turns out she was a powerful Auror who had been assigned to protect Harry when he was born.  She was good with the muggle disguise she'd chosen.  A crotchety old lady.  Who'd ever guess she was a witch?  During their summers together Arabella had been teaching him the "tools of the trade."  He was learning advanced magic he would need when he had to face down Lord Voldemort.  That summer would be one he would never forget.  It was the summer he stopped Lucius Malfoy, the summer that began Voldemort's demise.

He'd woken up in the middle of the night, his scar burning like hot coals were being pressed to his head.  Sensing something was wrong, he grabbed his wand and ran down the stairs.  Walking into the sitting room, he saw his family, the only family he'd still had left, laying face down, all killed by the Avada Kedavra curse.  Silent tears streamed down his face.  Turning, he saw the one who'd done it.  Lord Voldemort.  The bastard would pay.  He was laughing, that horrible high laugh that he had.  The one that haunted his dreams since he could long remember.  But, looking next to him, he saw a silvery haired man, sneering, laughing as horribly as his inhuman counterpart.  Lucius Malfoy.  His wand still raised from performing the curse, Harry knew who had done this.  Knew what was coming.  Lord Voldemort, sensing what was about to happen, turned to Malfoy and ordered him to kill Potter and bring his body to him, then disapparated.

Both raising their wands at the same time, he bellowed the Crucio curse, hitting Voldemort before the son-of-a-bitch had a chance to move.  Now writhing in pain on the floor, he went up to him, pressed the tip of his wand right above the asshole's black heart and, muttering "This is for my family.  My friends.  For everyone you have ever hurt, tortured, murdered."  Sneering, he said Avada Kedavra, thoroughly vanquishing the man that had ruined his life.  Looking around him at the mass of death he was surrounded by, he didn't know how he could take it.  He didn't know who he could turn to, but he was sure that Cornelius Fudge would be there soon with an army of Aurors.  Mr. Weasley would show up too.  He went over to the nearest chair, sitting down, waiting for his sentence.

As he expected, Fudge, Lupin, Sirius, Dumbledore, an army of Aurors, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Figg.  They all showed up immediately.  They'd been waiting forever for Voldemort to perform the Avada Kedavra curse.  They'd know where he was immediately.  When they all apparated into the house, they looked around them.  First at the Dursleys, all dead on the floor, then to Malfoy, his face contorted in pain, his body lifeless, his soul gone forever.

Harry looked up at the crowd now staring at him in his room.  Shock registered on their faces.  Then someone he hadn't expected to be there showed up at the door.  It rang. Automatically the rest of the crowd went invisible so he could answer the door.  A breathless Ginny was there, staring at Harry.

"I……….saw………….hold on."  She paused to catch her breath.  Leaning against the door jam, she looked at him again.  She noticed his face was tear stained, that spark in his eyes gone.  Finally catching her breath, she said "Harry, I saw.  I had a dream that…that…Voldemort was here, that he killed your family.  Then came after you but you stopped him.  I had to come here.  I had to warn you."

Looking down, he murmured "Too late."  Looking back at her, he knew at once she understood what had happened.  Seeing her concern, her want to help him, the fact that she had seen this, with everything that had happened he couldn't hold it back anymore.  He burst into tears right there looking at her.  She gingerly took him into her arms, and, both of them sinking to the floor right there, let him cry into her shoulder while she gently rocked him, all the while rubbing his back.  Looking up, she saw the crowd reappearing.  Giving them a look, they all understood.  Mr. Weasley mouth that she should tell him when he was ready so they could come and take care of the situation.  Dumbledore had a knowing smile on his face, and, leaving with Mr. Weasley, Lupin, and Sirius, looked at both of them.  They all knew too.

Once everyone had left, she gently lifted his head and looked into his eyes.

"Harry, come on.  Let's get some of your things then I'll take you back to the Burrow.  You can stay with us for as long as you need.  I can't begin to imagine what you're going through right now, but please, come on hun.  Let's at least get to your room before the neighbors wake up and see you in the doorway."

She helped him to his feet and got him up the stairs to his room.  She laid him down on the bed and, seeing Hedwig had returned, found a piece of parchment and a quill.  She wrote a quick note to her dad:

_Dad,_

_I've got Harry calmed enough.  He's sleeping right now.  You can come, but please, only bring Lupin, Sirius and Dumbledore with you.  I don't think he can handle a crowd of people if he wakes up.  I'm going to stay with him here tonight then I'll take him back to the Burrow tomorrow.  Please, if you can, don't be too loud.  He needs to rest.  Thanks.  Send Hedwig back once you get this.  She'll help calm him too.  Don't tell Ron if you can avoid it.  I think he needs to hear it from Harry.  I might be better that way._

_Ginny_

            Stroking Hedwig's feathers, she gently kissed her on the beak, tied the note to her leg, and sent her off to the Burrow.  Knowing she'd fly fast and that they'd be there in a few hours, she went back over to the bed.  Harry had fallen asleep in the bed but was wimpering.  As she was watching him he growled and screamed, sitting straight up in bed and looking around wildly.  She went over to him and laid her hand gently on his arm.  He looked into her eyes and started crying again.  Sitting on the bed next to him, she let him rest his head on her shoulder again, let him cry as she comforted him.  After a while she could hear him slowly breathing, telling her that he was asleep.  Afraid that he might have another night mare, she leaned up against the wall and let him sleep on her shoulder, keeping her arms around him as he slept.

            Meanwhile, Dumbledore, Sirius, Lupin, and Mr. Weasley were sitting in the kitchen of the Burrow, waiting for Ginny's letter.  Mrs. Weasley was busying herself making tea for them all, trying to keep the mood a little livelier than it would be.

            "What I don't know is how Ginny could possibly have seen that coming.  How she saw that that was going to happen," said Mr. Weasley.

            "Arthur," said Dumbledore, that same knowing smile still on his face, "you do know that Ginny seems to have a strange ability to sense danger, sense the dark forces when they are near?  Ever since Harry saved her from Voldemort during her first year, I've noticed that when Harry's scar burned Ginny always seemed to have a headache.  Though they didn't notice, it seems that there was a bond formed when this happened.  Right now I think Ginny is the only one who could possibly help him.  She's the only one who can begin to understand what he's going through."

            "But what are we going to do," asked Sirius.  "My name hasn't been cleared yet, and it's not like he can come live with me at the Shrieking Shack with Lupin.  Where is he going to go?  What's going to happen to him?"  Pounding his fist on the lamp table next to him, he said "Damn that bastard Pettigrew!  That son-of-a-bitch!  I want to find that asshole and make him pay."

            "Now now Padfoot," said Lupin, "we need to let the boy find his own way through this.  Neither you nor I nor anybody can understand what happened to him tonight, and Malfoy I'm sure isn't the only one who is going to come after him, although I'm sure that not many Death Eaters will be coming.  Voldemort will come soon and he needs to be prepared for that.  He needs to sort things out.  If he needs our help he'll ask for it."

            Just then Hedwig swooped in the window, obviously having flown at great speeds to get there.  Fluffing her wings importantly, she landed on Dumbledore's lap, waiting for him to take the letter from her foot.  Once the letter was gone, she flew over to the table, took a few sips of Sirius's tea, and headed back out the window to Harry.  Looking at the letter, he recognized Ginny's handwriting and handed it to Arthur, knowing she meant it for him.

            Opening it, he read the letter, then passed it around to the waiting few who were there.

            "So," said Sirius, "I think we should go and take care of that.  If Harry sees that again I don't know what will happen to him.  Ginny's got him calmed enough that he'd listen to her and stay there until the downstairs was cleaned up."

            "I don't think we should let this get out.  Arthur, please go to Ministry and ask that they let out a story that Lucius Malfoy was killed by an Auror.  If it gets out that Harry took him down he'll have no peace at school from the Slytherins.  I will go with Sirius and Lupin and take care of the bodies."

            "What are you going to do with Malfoy's body," asked Arthur.

            "I'll take the body to the Ministry.  Sirius, Lupin, you make sure that the bodies are buried properly and send in an obituary saying that they died in a horrific car accident.  Make the people on the street believe that they went to the funeral."  Dumbledore turned to Mr. Weasley.  "I'm sure Ginny will get Harry here when he's ready for travel.  I would like him to stay here until we can clear Sirius's name."

            "No problem with me," said Mr. Weasley.  "Sirius, you're always welcome here."

            "Thank you Arthur.  I'm sure that Harry will be well taken care of."

            The group of them got up, Arthur to go to the Ministry, Sirius, Lupin and Dumbledore to go to the Dursleys.  Arthur arrived, and, bowling through a pile of people and ignoring his secretary, barged into his office.  Arthur, seeing that nobody was there but Fudge, quietly whispered the plan to Fudge.  Fudge nodded his head in agreement, saying that he would personally contact the Daily Prophet and let out the story and call the morgue and have Malfoy's body prepared for burial.

            Dumbledore, Sirius and Lupin apparated into the Dursleys home, finding it much as they had before.  Sirius and Lupin used Accio to get three coffins into the home and got the bodies in there.  Dumbledore took hold of Malfoy's hand and apparated to the morgue at the Ministry.  Sirius went upstairs to check on Harry to see if Ginny had him calm enough for travel.  He walked into Harry's room and saw that Harry had his head resting on Ginny's shoulder, sleeping peacefully.  Ginny had fallen asleep leaning on the wall and had left her arms around Harry.  When Harry moved her arms tightened around him, as if protecting him.  Smiling to himself, he called Lupin upstairs quietly.  Lupin looked in and smiled.

           "They look just like James and Lily.  It's good to see that he has someone he can trust.  He's going to need her soon.  I'm sure Voldemort isn't going to wait for much longer before he tries again."

            "I know," said Sirius.  "Let's apparate them over to the Burrow.  We can bury the Dursleys in a local cemetery then get Ginny and Harry to the Burrow."

            "Why don't we get them to the Burrow first?  That way we know they're safe."  Sirius agreed with Lupin on this point and, Lupin's hand on Ginny and Sirius's hand on Harry, apparated to the Burrow into Ginny's bedroom.  Leaving them there making sure they were still sleeping, they headed back to the Burrow to bury the Dursleys and gather Harry's belongings.


End file.
